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Black and White rules out of the box

Bought the starterdecks today and made a picture of the sheet inside which explains the new rules.

Will type later on the text for those who cannot read the uploaded pictures I made.
Also the card list will follow.

top part of sheet

--

bottom part of sheet

Contents of the starterdecks

There is no separate rulebook in the box, it refers to www.pokemon.com/tcgrules
However I could not find them overthere.

Black & White

Changes in the Pokémon TCG: Black & White Expansion

If you're new to the Pokémon TCG, don't worry about this sheet! It explains a few changes players need to be aware of if they have older cards.

Card Types
Trainer, Supporter, and Stadium cards are changing with the B&W expansion.
As you can see, Poke Ball is now a Trainer-Item card.
Previous expansions'Supporter cards are now Trainer-Supporter and the Stadium cards are now Trainer-Stadium.

note from me, the new trainers have a colored box on the bottom.
The Trainer-Item card has a blue reminder box and the word Item is written in Blue, while for the Trainer-
Supporter it's in Red. There are no Trainer-Stadiums in the decks/set but I assume they will have also a different colored box.
They are better to recognize this way and it's a good improvement

Since the wording dealing with these cards has recently changed, you should know how these cards work together if you are using cards that express the same concept differently.

- Trainer cards from Diamond & Pearl through Call of Legends should be considered Trainer-Item
- Supporter cards from Diamond & Pearl through Call of Legends should be considered Trainer-Supporter
- Stadium cards from Diamond & Pearl through Call of Legends should be considered Trainer-Stadium
- Any cards that reference those card types should change accordingly as well.
For example, if a card from those sets says, "Search your deck for a Trainer card....."
You should now read that card as saying "Search your deck for an Item card.." since Trainer cards are now know as Trainer-Item cards.

Also, Supporter cards no longer stay in play until the end of the turn (note from me: I call this an Judge nightmare)
Any cards that previously checked tto see if a Supporter card was in play, new check to see if a Supporter card was played. (note from me: Can you hear the discussions already........)
For Example, Probopass (Platinum-Arceus, 7/99) reads, "If you don't have a Supporter card in play, each of Probopass's attacks does 30 more damage to the Active Pokémon (before applying weakness and Resistance)."
It should now read, "If you didn't play a Supporter card this turn, each of Probopass's attacks does 30 more damage to the Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance)."

note: Happy Judging

First Turn

The player that goes first no longer has any restrictions on what cards he or she can play.
This means the player can play Item, Supporter and Stadium cards on the first turn.
However, it is still the case that neither player may Evolve Pokémon on the first turn.

Abilities, Poké-Powers, and Poké-Bodies

Starting with the Black & White Expansion, there will be no more Poké-Powers or Poké-Bodies.
Instead, Pokémon will have Abilities, which work similarly to both. It is important to note that there is no connection between an Ability and a Poké-Power or Poké-Body.
For Example, if a card said, "This attack does 80 damage to each Pokémon that has any Poké-Powers (both yours and your opponent's), it wouldn't affect any Pokémon with Abilities.

Card Text Changes

Attacks and Abilites on a Pokémon that refers to itself now use the phrase "This Pokemon" instead of the name of that Pokémon. (note from me: this should have be done long ago, good move finally the real translation from the Japanese card)
This should clear up confusion during any situation where Abilities can be copied. (note from me I really think it should mention "where attacks can be copied)
For example, an attack that previously said, "Tepig does 10 damage to itself." now reads, "This Pokémon does 10 damage to itself."

Removal of damage counters is now referred to with the "Heal" keyword - you should take 1 damage counter off of the affected Pokémon for each damage healed.
For example, "Remove 2 damage counters from each of your Pokémon," now reads
"Heal 20 damage from each of your Pokémon."

Effects that prevent you from healing or from removing damage counters do not affect moving those damage counters between Pokémon.

Attacks that can deal additional damage now only specifically call out the extra damage in their text.
For example, "Flip a coin, If heads, this attack does 10 plus 30 more damage." would now read,
"Flip a coin, If heads, this attack does 30 more damage."

Whenever you need to show your opponent a specific card or cards, the phrase "reveal it," is now used.
For example, "Search your deck for a Pokémon, show it to your opponent, and put it into your hand."
would now read, "Search your deck for a Pokémon, reveal it, and put it into your hand."

Note that it is no longer called out that you need to reveal cards moving from, for example, your discard pile to your hand. Of course, you must still clearly indicate which card you are moving from your discard pile as that zone is open to all players.

Errata

The following cards now have new official text, some of which is very different from previous versions.
When using the following cards, always use this text to determine their effects:

Rare Candy
Choose 1 of your Basic Pokémon in play. If you have a Stage 2 card in your hand that evolves from that Pokémon, put that card on the Basic Pokémon. (This counts as evolving that Pokémon.)
You can't use this card during your first turn or on a Basic Pokémon that was put into play this turn.

Changes: You can no longer use this card to evolve a Stage 1 to a Stage 2 Pokémon, it can't be used on your first turn, and it can't be used on a Pokémon played this turn.

(note from me after laughing hard, Yes it really says evolve a Stage 1 to a Stage 2 Pokémon, somebody seems not to have understood how the "old" rare Candy is worded it never worked on a Stage 1)

Potion
Heal 30 damage from 1 of your Pokémon.

Changes: Heals 30 damage instead of 20 damage

Great Ball
Look at the top 7 cards of your deck. You may reveal a Pokémon you find there and put it into your hand.
Shuffle the other cards back into your deck.

Changes: This card works very differently now; it can no longer search the entire deck for a Pokémon and put it directly onto the Bench.

Pluspower
During this turn, your Pokémon's attacks do 10 more damage to the Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance).

The ability to play any supporter, "item" or stadium card when going first will increase the effectiveness of decks with donk strategies or even just with good low energy attacks. We all expected this though.

On the other han the change to PlusPower makes Uxie Donk in particular a bit less viable. You have to win the first turn or go home. It's even more of a blow to Shuppet donk.

The "discard your supporter right after you play it" rule makes it over ... and I don't think that the Judges are going to like that one. At least we will not have people trying to claim turns ended without attacks when someone discards them.

The change to Abilities will be good in the long run IMHO, but in the short run it's going to be confusing for the younger players due to interactions with existing power and body blocking cards.

The ability to play any supporter, "item" or stadium card when going first will increase the effectiveness of decks with donk strategies or even just with good low energy attacks. We all expected this though.

On the other han the change to PlusPower makes Uxie Donk in particular a bit less viable. You have to win the first turn or go home. It's even more of a blow to Shuppet donk.

The "discard your supporter right after you play it" rule makes it over ... and I don't think that the Judges are going to like that one. At least we will not have people trying to claim turns ended without attacks when someone discards them.

The change to Abilities will be good in the long run IMHO, but in the short run it's going to be confusing for the younger players due to interactions with existing power and body blocking cards.

What format is the TCG online game?

The TCG online game is using B/W rules. Potion heals 30, you can play trainers going 1st.

The discard of supporter immediately will be a Judging nightmare. I seriously hope that TPCi nerfs that one for tourney play. Keep the supporter next to the active. So many he said/she saids will be avoided!

I don't expect TPCi to enforce the supporter placement unless we make it into a big deal.

@Lia, it was possible to use the old rare Candy to evolve a stage 1 into a stage 2. It would be unusual for a stage 1 to be in play without a basic underneath it is true but the old Rare Candy could work that way. The new rare Candy might be looking purely at the text written on the cards and that might be why the exclusion is mentioned.

It is a big deal, it opens the way to cheating/misleading with 100%.
Play junk arm and Professor Juniper and your opponent can call a judge each turn stating you have used your supporter already.
If a game is in progress there is NO judge who can figure out anymore who is right or wrong.

Bad rules are bad and the supporter is one of them.

Originally Posted by Pooka

At any rate, I applaud Rainbowgym for a truly creative deck that took a great amount of skill to put together.

^No it does not, it too will recieve an errat to target Trainer-Items, rather than Goods. Supporter discard not only rings as a bad rule but a very...random one. I don't see what would iniate the idea it was needed, the current Supporter system hasn't really had that many problems has it?

@Lia, it was possible to use the old rare Candy to evolve a stage 1 into a stage 2. It would be unusual for a stage 1 to be in play without a basic underneath it is true but the old Rare Candy could work that way. The new rare Candy might be looking purely at the text written on the cards and that might be why the exclusion is mentioned.

NO it wasn't possible, Rare Candy was used on a BASIC.
Basics below a stage 1 are not counted as "being a basic in play", if that was true Honchkrow would be the best card ever.

Originally Posted by Pooka

At any rate, I applaud Rainbowgym for a truly creative deck that took a great amount of skill to put together.

Normally there should be some kind of balance between the player going first and the one going second, now the player going first has all advantages. Doesn't seem fair to me and makes the starting coinflip even more decisive than it is right now.

PokéPowers and PokéBodies were a great concept and helped a lot to make the game more diverse and easier to understand. You knew what you had to announce and what worked automatically, and there were options to block one or the other seperately. There also are fewer abilities on the new cards than we had Powers and Bodies before.

As Lia said, discarding Supporters immediately doesn't seem like a good idea to me and can cause confusion to both players and judges. Don't see why it had to be changed.

Blocking Rare Candy on the first turn is a really good idea, but preventing it from being used on a Pokémon just played puts Stage 2 decks into a bad position, exspecially if you keep in mind that Pokémon Catcher will probably be in the format.

However, I like the clarifications on the description, such as "this Pokémon", "heal" etc... they make cards easier to understand imo, same for the Trainer-Item etc thing.

Wow, the set seems a little lack luster now. Gyarados dosn't become broke (Good). Luxray will still be in everything (-Sigh-). Stage 2 decks get hurt. Sableye is amazing (We already know that). SP is still going to dominate. Some of the pokemon taken out is interesting. Would just prefer a massive rotation at this point though.

Originally Posted by NoPoke
@Lia, it was possible to use the old rare Candy to evolve a stage 1 into a stage 2. It would be unusual for a stage 1 to be in play without a basic underneath it is true but the old Rare Candy could work that way. The new rare Candy might be looking purely at the text written on the cards and that might be why the exclusion is mentioned.

NO it wasn't possible, Rare Candy was used on a BASIC.
Basics below a stage 1 are not counted as "being a basic in play", if that was true Honchkrow would be the best card ever.

Lia for an example of using rare candy on a Stage 1 see the compendium

Q. Say I have a Team Aqua's Sealeo (Stage 1) that I Archie'd into play. Can I use a Rare Candy to evolve it to Team Aqua's Walrein on that same turn?
A. Yes, you could. Rare Candy bypasses the normal rules of Evolution, and since you Archie'd it the Team Aqua's Sealeo would count as a Basic Pokémon. (Apr 14, 2005 PUI Rules Team)

Once the set is out it should be possible to find out the wrinkles with the new rare candy.
----
I'm glad that catcher and the silly heal card are delayed.

No Pokemon Catcher? That's just crazy disappointing. There goes my plans on buying tons of this set. This also, at least to me, proves that we aren't getting a mid-season rotation, which is just horrible. Why else hold those cards back?

As for rule changes, I don't mind them for the most part, save the horrible Supporter rule that's been discussed plenty already.